


to tell the truth

by tommino



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Team as Family, Truth Serum, dont worry this is sugar sweet tho, the prompt was flowers so naturally i made a gigantic man-eating plant lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 02:58:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18241001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommino/pseuds/tommino
Summary: Other than a few scuffs on his armor, Lance looks unharmed - but he just stares stupidly at the Red paladin’s outstretched hand instead of trying to rise. Keith leans closer. “The fight’s still on, you coming?”Lance looks up suddenly. “Dude you… you have really beautiful eyes, did you know that? I feel like nobody has told you that.”Uhhhhhhh.--Lance is hit with a truth serum, and his unintended honesty hour will continue until Voltron finds the cure planet-side. Keith, meanwhile, can't shake off the part where Lance is... flirting? With him??





	to tell the truth

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally published in the Klance and Friends charity zine, and at long last I'm thrilled to share it with you!!

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The shot clips Lance’s shoulder in a flash of sparks, sending the Blue paladin tumbling backward into the dirt.

 

“Lance!! Guys, Lance is down,” Pidge says, out of breath. “Look, I get that we’re just visitors in this jungle, but even the foliage attacking us? Seriously??”

 

The orange flower unfurls again, and Hunk ducks beneath another flying stinger. “Yeah I second that motion. Can we please, uh, call a truce or a retreat or something?”

 

A prickly set of vines whips forward, Keith clearing it away with his sword. The native flora isn’t particularly dangerous, but some can really pack a punch if you’re not expecting it.

 

“Lance, you okay over there?” Shiro calls. The team gets an exaggerated groan in response. “It looks like he fell into the ditch. I don’t think these barbs can actually penetrate our armor but somebody needs to go check on him.”

 

“Yeah I got it,” Keith says. It would be pretty annoying if the Blue paladin got eaten by something else while the team was dueling an overgrown houseplant. He starts picking his way over to where Lance disappeared, mindful of any other aggressive greenery that may be laying in wait.

 

“Can’t you talk some sense into these plants, Pidge?” Hunk suggests. “You’re the one with earth powers.”

 

The Red paladin slides down the embankment to where Lance is sprawled. The Blue paladin is pulling off his helmet, looking dazed as he examines a heavy scuff on the back of it.

 

Pidge huffs into her comm. “I’m the Green paladin, not a Batman villain. YOU try talking to them!”

 

“Hey slowpoke. The fight’s still on, you coming?” Keith calls over. Lance looks up and blinks slowly in confusion.

 

“Keith did you come to rescue me?” he asks. “That’s… that’s so nice.”

 

Brows furrowing, the Red paladin marches closer to give the other boy a hand up. Other than a few scuffs on his armor, Lance looks unharmed - but he just stares stupidly at Keith’s hand instead of trying to rise.

 

Lance looks up suddenly. “Dude you… you have really beautiful eyes, did you know that? I feel like nobody has told you that.”

 

_Uhhhhhhh._

 

Keith repeats that thought, out loud.

 

The Blue paladin flops backward into the grass, arms flung out to the sides. “Whew I’m super dizzy. Do you wanna hang out? We should hang out more. C’mon down here, let’s hang out.”

 

“Lance, did you hit your head?” Keith asks.

 

“Nah. Maybe? That sounds like it makes sense. Ah, grass is nice.” He crinkles his nose and lets out a dopey sigh. “You’re nice too. Well, not like _nice_ nice but definitely nicer than you think. It’s cute.”

 

“Uh, guys?” Keith says into the comms. He can feel a blush rising on his cheeks; it’s time to call in reinforcements before things get weird. “I think something rattled Lance’s brain when he fell.”

 

“Fell? Like how I’m falling for you?” Lance gives lopsided finger-guns and then blinks both eyes at him. Keith assumes that was supposed to be a wink.

 

“GUYS LANCE HAS LOST HIS MIND.”

 

.

 

\----

 

.

 

The Blue paladin perches on the edge of a rock, legs swinging as Hunk fiddles with the scanner station per Coran’s instructions. Pidge and Shiro are examining their afflicted teammate as well, but Keith keeps his distance, brows furrowed suspiciously a few feet away.

 

“How are you feeling now, buddy?” Hunk asks. He slides a green diagnosis diode across Lance’s forehead.

 

“Fine! Good! I feel good, really, how are you?” Lance is talking a mile a minute - which is only slightly faster than usual, but still enough to weird Keith out. “Well okay I feel like, a little nauseous and maybe a little flustered cause y’know, Keith is smoldering all intense from the treeline there… but otherwise fine!”

 

The Red paladin’s elbow nearly slips off the bark, and the rest of the team turns to look at him in concern.

 

Allura chuckles over the comm, concerned but amused. “Yes, something is definitely wrong with Lance. Either he’s concussed or poisoned or…”

 

“Hey, what’s this?” Pidge interrupts. She plucks at something in the flight suit around Lance’s neck and he yelps. The Green paladin ignores the sounds of betrayal from her partner in favor of tilting her discovery toward the light.

 

The paladins gather closer to examine what looks like a trio of darts, the small orange barb just sharp enough to penetrate the black material. Back on the castleship, Coran’s workstation dings with the scanner results.

 

“My goodness, you found a _veritus mapla_ _!”_ he exclaims into the mic. A file suddenly pops up on the Green paladin’s holo-display, and she angles her gauntlet toward the rest of the astonished paladins. Medical information spills across the page as Coran keeps talking. “And here I thought these beauties went extinct 12,000 years ago! Their spores are an incredible phenomenon really, able to transfer between planeta-”

 

Allura clears her throat gently.

 

“Oh yes,” Coran remembers. “Lance my boy you’ll be fine. You see, the venom on the _veritus mapla’s_ barb triggers cardiogenic shock in vegetarian creatures! Quite the nifty defense mechanism.”

 

Hunk sputters in alarm, and Coran is quick to continue his explanation. “BUT in a carnivorous system such as your own, it should be metabolized rather differently. You humans are astoundingly hardy creatures.”

 

“Well he’s definitely experiencing some kind of side effect,” Pidge says, studying the readings on screen. “It actually looks a lot like a dose of amobarbital.”

 

Shiro seems to recognize the term. “Isn’t that the chemical used in truth serums?”

 

“That’s not so bad,” Allura says. “He’s a little outspoken at times, yes, but Lance is generally an honest person already.”

 

Lance snorts. “Not even close!” he says proudly, earning a few curious looks.

 

Pidge eyes him suspiciously. “So if I were to ask you whether you used a cheat code on CastleStomper 4 last week...?”

 

“Up down up down, A, B, square,” Lance rattles off. “Gave me an extra three lives to beat your high score. And I regret nothing, because _the look on your face_ was priceless.”

 

“I KNEW IT!” the Green paladin exclaims, sounding betrayed. “And that is not something Lance ever would have admitted unless the venom was working against him.”

 

“So he’s officially plant-whammied, huh?” Keith says. That would explain… some things.

 

Allura makes a sound of confirmation. “It looks like common symptoms include lowered inhibitions and extreme susceptibility to interrogation. His human immune system should stifle most of the other side effects, but keep a lookout for a sudden fever or spots on his tongue.”

 

Lance sticks his tongue out in concern, going slightly cross-eyed as he tries to examine it. “Can ‘omebody check me fo’ spots, pleathe?”

 

Hunk leans closer and then gives him a thumbs up. Lance lets out a dramatic sigh of relief. “Thanks buddy. You’re my best friend. The Best.” The Blue paladin claps a hand to Hunk’s shoulder and levels an intense stare between them.

 

“Like, closer than a brother,” Lance continues seriously. “I never woulda made it through first year at the Garrison without you, did you know that? The homesickness was unbearable until we bunked up. You’re my hero.”

 

“Aw, I love you too dude.” Hunk pulls his friend into a bear hug, looking a bit teary at the sudden heart-to-heart. Lance squeaks slightly at the pressure but doesn’t complain.

 

“What, no love for me?” Pidge jokes from beside the two. Clearly it’s the wrong thing to say, because the Blue paladin swivels to pull her into the hug as well.

 

“Aw Pidgey!” Lance says. “I only tease you because otherwise I’d be showering you in compliments all day, ya little genius. You’re too smart for your own good - somebody’s gotta make sure you have fun.” The Green paladin squirms slightly under their arms, but doesn’t make too strong an attempt to pull away. The tips of her ears are pink.

 

Lance is on a roll now, continuing his tirade of affection. “Same goes for Allura you know. Hoo man, I cannot believe how much kickass is contained in one person. She’s resourceful, she’s reliable, and she could probably negotiate a rabbit out of a hat. Allura’s like… like Sleeping Beauty meets Alexander the Great.”

 

“Th-thank you Lance, that’s very kind,” the Princess says, clearly caught by surprise. “Who is Alexander the Great?” she whispers in the comms.

 

Lance starts explaining that too, faced with a direct question. For a moment, Keith considers asking something as well. He’s always wondered if… No. That’s not fair. Lance doesn’t have much control over what he answers. It would be wrong to pry, no matter how curious Keith may be.

 

Hunk grins, clearly unruffled by Lance’s sudden truthfulness. “Makes sense you admire Allura. I had a feeling all that flirting was just for show.” The Blue paladin shrugs sheepishly.

 

“Hey, speaking of…” Pidge narrows her eyes suspiciously and glances over at the Red paladin. Keith’s blood runs cold. “You’ve been awfully flirty with someone else lately, Lancey Lance. Is that because you secretly want to and held back, or is it because your natural state of being is just bad pickup lines?”

 

The Green paladin clearly has no such hesitations about direct questions. Lance immediately flushes red, but opens his mouth to answer anyway. Keith’s heart pounds in his eardrums, mouth dry.

 

Shiro must see the panic on both their faces, because he steps in with a quick distraction. “Lance is there anything you want to say to me?”

 

The Blue paladin latches on to the new question, leaning forward to put force behind his answer. “Shiro… You have more kindness in your pinky finger than most people will achieve in their entire lives.” Lance’s voice grows louder, swept up in his honesty. “There’s no one more worthy to lead Voltron, and I would follow you to the ends of the universe. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I get to hang out with THE Takashi Shirogane?”

 

The Black paladin looks taken aback, clearly not expecting such a passionate answer. Hunk and Pidge look absolutely enamored with the situation, and Keith finds himself speechless as well.

 

“Also I maybe-kinda-sorta used to have one of your Garrison recruitment posters on my wall. Just as inspiration!! _Andbecauseyou’reVeryHandsome,”_ Lance gets out in a last minute rush. His cheeks turn pink as Shiro stares for a moment longer, and then the Black paladin bursts out laughing.

 

Soon the whole team is giggling, the absurdity of the whole situation finally hitting home as they poke fun at a grinning Lance. The Blue paladin gets hit with an alarmingly effective truth serum, and yet all he can do is talk about how much he cares for his teammates.  Leave it to Lance to salvage a tense situation, even without meaning to.

 

But as he chuckles along with the others, Keith finds himself wishing Shiro hadn’t interrupted the earlier question. It’s nice to hear Lance’s genuine opinion about each of them.

 

And with how the Blue paladin has been acting toward Keith today, he can’t help but wonder if… maybe...

 

 _Nah._ Keith shakes himself mentally.

 

Obviously it’s because Lance would flirt with anything that moves. Keith was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, really. Multiple times. In a row. With finger guns.

 

The Red paladin scrubs a hand over his face just as Coran lets out a quiet “Oh dear.”

 

“What? What does that mean?” Hunk asks, as the team immediately quiets down. “Coran that does not generally mean good things!” He reaches out to take Lance’s pulse again, and the Blue paladin wriggles away like he’s ticklish.

 

“Well… I was rather hoping the venom would just wear off with time,” the older Altean says. “But it looks like you’ll be going on a wild goose hunt for an antidote.”

 

“You mean a ‘scavenger’ hunt,” Pidge corrects. “A ‘goose chase’ is bad. We’ve been over this.”

 

“I told Coran that _‘What’s crack-a-lackin?’_ is a formal Earth greeting!” Lance pipes up unhelpfully.

 

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\----

 

.

 

Coran’s explanation of the antidote had sent the team underground. They were looking for a subterranean cousin of the ferocious plant they’d fought earlier, one that rooted in deep caverns of the planet. And the sooner they found it, the less likely Lance was to experience side effects.

 

Allura had suggested they split up to look, and Keith surprised everyone by volunteering to escort Lance. The Blue paladin was so out of it that Keith didn’t trust him not to wander up to some kind of man-eating flora and confess his love for it. Better to keep him close by.

 

Keith is only somewhat regretting that decision now, Lance chattering away beside him as they climb further into the cave. The further the two paladins descend, the more honest Lance seems to get: unabashedly discussing the depth of his homesickness and the height of his admiration for his teammates. It’s sweet, really, and maybe a little bit tragic - yet Keith can’t help but feel that listening in is taking advantage. He just nods along, trying not to ask direct questions.

 

When they round the next bend, both paladins gasp. Keith had expected another feral plant, maybe have to fight off a few tentacles to harvest the antidote. But this… this is beautiful.

 

Lush plant life fills the cavern like a shimmering orange lake. There must be hundreds of flowers blooming here below the surface, green vines and leaves weaving hopelessly together beneath drooping tangerine blossoms.

 

Lance kneels to cup a gentle hand around one of the flowers. He smiles and Keith’s heart trips. The whole cave smells like peaches, drifting light and sweet atop the earthy dampness of the roots.

 

Keith quietly sets his helmet down beside the Blue paladin’s promptly abandoned gear. The high ceiling has cracked in places, and sunlight spills onto the petals in dappled patterns. He wades further into the shifting sea of flowers, careful not to crush any of the plants beneath his boot.

 

“We need unopened buds to make a cure, right?” Keith asks. He hates to break the silence, but it seems unfair to make Lance wait any longer for the antidote than needed. He drops a few sprouts into the synthesizer, which whirs into action to distill the buds.

 

When he glances back, though, the Blue paladin is crouched at the flowers’ edge with his head in his hands. Concern dashes through Keith’s chest. “Lance?”

 

“I’m okay, I just… I’m actually kinda terrified right now. Of taking the cure,” he admits. Lance shakes his head in wonder, grimacing slightly. “I feel fine right now, but _hoo boy_  I know I’m gonna be horrifically embarrassed when this wears off.”

 

The honesty still catches Keith off guard, and he grasps for reassuring words. “Hey, look. You’ve said some… really great stuff today.”

 

Lance looks up, eyes wide and perhaps a bit surprised. Keith is committed now.

 

“You seem to think the best of everyone. Hunk nearly cried and- and I’ve never seen Shiro smile quite like that. It’s really meant a lot to everybody, so don’t worry about being embarrassed.”

 

Lance’s unguarded affection had touched the whole team, and Keith doesn’t mention how he’ll cherish his own experience of an honest Blue paladin. He drops his gaze to the flowers for a moment. “You’re a really good person, Lance.”

 

When he lifts his gaze, Lance is openly staring, a slight blush rising in his cheeks. Keith’s brain catches up to his words, and he finds himself flushing as well. Instinct sends him reeling into an awkward verbal backpedal. “Although, maybe not the flirting with me thing. I bet you’ll regret that when you come to your senses. Ha… ha…”

 

 _Shut up, shut up!_ Keith needs to cut his losses. The synthesizer blinks slowly, petals finished steeping. “Anyway uh, here’s the cure.” He shoves the tea toward the Blue paladin, desperate to change the subject.

 

Lance picks his way through the plants to stand beside the Red paladin, their fingers brushing as he takes the container from Keith. He lifts the cup to his lips, but seems to think otherwise at the last second.

 

Keith watches in confusion as Lance considers the drink in his hands, then flicks his eyes upward. “I wasn’t worried, you know. Not even for a second.” The Blue paladin’s voice is serious, cerulean eyes locked onto Keith’s own. “I know I can count on you for anything. And you mean the world to me, Keith.”

 

That out of the way, Lance nods to himself as if that’s all he had left to do. He tosses back the cure without a second thought.

 

Keith struggles to pull himself out of what can only be described as shellshock. Part of him wants to doubt it, unable to process the idea that Lance could actually… that he might really…

 

_“The venom metabolizes much like a truth serum. He’s just speaking from the heart, now.”_

 

Lance was obligated to tell the truth, and he clearly _wanted_ the Red paladin to know how he felt. Keith’s heart soars and overrides any hesitations that might spring up.

 

He dips forward to pull Lance into a kiss.

 

“Is this okay?” Keith says breathlessly, asking quickly before the cure can kick in. It’s the first question he’s asked the other paladin intentionally, but he wants to be sure of Lance’s answer - without a shadow of a doubt.

 

Lance bubbles out a laugh and tackles Keith into the flower bed. “Never better,” he grins, radiant.

 

And kisses back.

 

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End file.
